1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, program, and data structures for generating raster objects that are used in further processing to generate the output raster data used to control a device to generate output.
2. Description of the Related Art
To print an image, a print engine processor, referred to herein as a raster image processor, converts the image in a page description language or vector graphics format to a bit mapped image indicating a value to print at each pixel of the image. The bit mapped image is sent to the printer to cause the print heads to print the specified color value at the pixel according to the information in the bit map. If a printer has multiple print heads, such as a print head for different colors, then bit maps are generated for each print head. The print heads overlay the images defined by their respective bit maps onto the print medium.
To produce the bit maps for the print heads, the raster image processor performs numerous transformations on a print image, which may include different types of data, such as line art, e.g., text and graphics, and continuous tone (“contone”), e.g., images. The raster image processor usually performs operations such as data compression, color space conversion, and halftoning when generating the raster bit map to print. After dissecting a print image into different components, such as color components, text art, contone, images, etc., the raster image processor must then merge the different elements together so that the original image, previously split into different components, is reconstructed for the color plane process.
As newer printers print at ever higher resolutions and speeds, the amount of data needed to generate the print job correspondingly increases. One of the major challenges in increasing printer speed and improving performance is optimizing the time required to rasterize print data, especially the time required by the raster image processor to break an image into different object components and then reassemble, decompress, screen and merge those components into a final bitmap image.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide an improved method, system, and program to transform print data, such as text, vector graphics, images and raster data into final rasterized bit maps in a more timely manner to increase printer throughput